The Gypsy Wife Is Back!

These are the blocks that I assigned myself for May, following the schedule I started in February.  I also fixed up a few problems I had with the colors and blocks for April.  Pretty soon I will be able to get to the June blocks, hopefully before the calendar flips to July!  We have copies of the Gypsy Wife Quilt book at the store, so give us a call (651-429-1039) if you want to sew-a-long!  You can start anytime it fits into your schedule.

Whatever Happened to Gypsy Wife?

Did you notice that May flew by and no new Gypsy blocks?  Well, the pieces for May blocks are cut and set aside, but in a spot that I can't put my fingers on at the moment!  If you read the previous post, you saw my DIY flooring project.  And the Gypsy Wife supplies are somewhere beneath a desk, shelf unit, boxes of books and papers!  So she will be back out again and we will have some catch up to do when the floor gets done!

I do really love this quilt so I will not be abandoning her!  Promise!

Haste Makes Waste

Well, I did sew together the April assigned blocks for Gypsy Wife.  They are the ones with a checkmark in the photo below.  But I am going to have to backtrack a bit and fix a couple problems.  

1. That block in the bottom row with the green center looks really out of shape, so I need to go back and press it into submission.  Otherwise it is a do-over.
2. The top left block is going to the chopping block.  It was not supposed to look like the black hole.  Way too dark.  A new plan for the colors is needed.
3. The little square-in-a-square block lower right also needs a do-over.  I had some nice black on white text fabric in the center, but forgot that it would look so different with the corner pieces attached.  It came out looking odd with the white gap in the middle.

So, as you see, there is always a chance to edit!  I do like that heart block in the top row, it gives me a little Gypsy Wife love!

It's April, So Gypsy Wife Continues...

First, I have to admit, I am feeling pretty good about just keeping up with the Gypsy Wife quilt monthly assignments for this sew-along.  Hopefully my luck will last!  It's always easy to start a plan like this, but can be very hard to stick with it all the way through.  At least, that's my experience!  

Here is the collection of the blocks I have made for the first two months, following the plan here:

These are not in any kind of arrangement nor order, just stuck up on my design wall randomly.  I have started to think about where these blocks belong in the final layout, but there is a long way to go before I can start putting sections together.  I have also started cutting some long 1 1/2" strips from the assorted prints, because they are used in and around and above and below all of the blocks.  Some carry through from the top to the bottom with block interruptions.  I'm not quite sure what I am doing with that, but I do realize that I will need some long strips, so to save having to piece strips together, I am cutting some now and setting aside for later.  

There has also been some stash improvements, as I see what I need more of to keep a balance.  Some were pieces that I find as I look into my own stash, some are pieces that are new.  It's good to see them in a picture like this, because I can see the value better; i.e., light, medium, dark within the color family.  Looks like most of my golds are mediums, so I will have to see about augmenting that little group with another dark and probably a light.  I haven't included my assorted light/background type of fabrics here.  

I picked out fabrics for the April blocks:

...complete with labels so I know what my first intentions were.  I may have to make some substitutions, but I didn't cut anything yet.  Most of these are Courthouse Steps blocks in varying sizes.  I will start cutting the pieces and get them arranged so I can get a better idea of how they are going to turn out.  Stay tuned!

Gypsy Wife update

I have accomplished making these blocks, the March assignment in the plan I am following.  These were pretty time consuming, although the consumption of time was influenced by the fact that I am sewing with about 19 other women.  That adds a whole new dimension of distraction!

And I did have to rely on my bag of backup fabrics because not all the pieces needed were in my little baggies.  So now what I feared was verging on compulsive packing proved to be totally justified!

What a relief!  Therapy is postponed yet again!

Gypsy In The Mail!

I am such a lucky girl!  When my friend, Thora Lee, saw that I was using the PB&J fabrics from Moda for my Gypsy Wife project, she said I could have the scraps that she had left from something she was making.  Yesterday this wonderful package of goodness landed in my mailbox!  These will really fill my need for better yellows and blues in my assortment.  Isn't it great to have friends that know how much a scrap can mean?

I have cut out what I will need to make the March blocks, according to the schedule I am following.

I have a quilt retreat coming up, so I have sealed the block pieces in ziplock bags and placed the bags and instructions in the "to go" pile.  When I do something like that, I worry that I will make a mistake with something and end up without the right fabrics to complete a block.  So my obsessive self has packed another ziplock bag with backup pieces of those fabrics to take along.  They will stay in the car on reserve in case I have a fabric emergency.  Do you do this?  Am I the only one?  Please tell me that I am not the only quilter who brings backup fabric to retreats!

Are you working on the Gypsy Wife quilt?  Let me know---

And merci beaucoup to Thora Lee!

The Gypsy Wife

Progress has been made!  I have sewn up the February blocks that I had up on the design wall and it feels good!  I'm actually done before the month is done!

 I am basing my color choices on some fabric from a line of fabric by Moda, the PB&J group by Basic Grey.

One of the key pieces is a large floral.  From this print I am putting together some assorted coordinates.  Some of them are pieces of the same group, some of them are from my own shelves.  I am grouping them by color here.

red

blue

yellow

green

and lights--

These should carry me for most of this quilt, in various amounts.  Something like this just takes a little trial and error to get it right.  And patience!  And a bigger box!

The Gypsy Wife Quilt

I have been bitten by the Gypsy bug!  And I want you to be bitten, too!

There is a quilt by Jen Kingwell that caught my attention awhile ago, but I didn't have a pattern.  It looked like a lot of fun to make, but did I really need to take on another quilt project?  I already have more completed quilts and more quilts-in-progress than any one person should have!  But then, I saw the pattern at retreat and Nancy just flaunted it at me the whole time.  Who could resist?  

So, we found out that Jen Kingwell is now a designer for Moda Fabrics.  And at Houston Quilt Market last fall, we met her and loved looking at her samples and designs.  Below is the Gypsy Wife Quilt covering a table.

And both Debbie and I agreed that her fabric designs (below) were something we really liked, so it has been ordered for Bear Patch and is supposed to be released in April.  Keeping my fingers crossed that we will get an early shipment.

Gardenvale by Jen Kingwell for Moda

With her connection through Moda, her patterns are more readily available and less expensive without shipping from Australia.  You can call Bear Patch (651-429-1039) to order your own pattern.  Here's a picture of the entire quilt, not the designer's original quilt but made by someone else and posted on Flickr with other gypsy quilt pictures.

So, I have a plan.  Well, actually, I am following a plan made by someone else.  On the Factotum of Arts blog there is a schedule to make all of the blocks over a year's time.  I think I can do this!  How about you?!  We can stay in contact and share pictures back and forth via email and our blog.  It's easy to hop on the Gypsy bus because the first month's task is to pick fabric.  And the fabric I picked is not a complete picture of what I want to use, but it's enough to get me going.  And gives me a good excuse to both shop my own stash as well as pick up new goodies as they come to Bear Patch!  I'll take a picture of my fabric selection and put it here for you to see.  And maybe take some inspiration to start your own!

If you visit the Factotum of Arts blog, you can even print out the schedule for the year.  For February, the task is to make the blocks below:

February blocks

I have them up on the design wall so I can see if the colors are what I want and where I want.  There is one large block, and I even found a "P" (for Pam!) to put in the center to begin the process.  Then 6 small pinwheel blocks, with borders added to 4 of them.  So far, the directions have been good and the process painless.  And the month isn't even done yet!  Next month will be another large block and 6 different small ones.  Easy!